


Career Day

by Tonystarkisaslut



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Gen, Iron dad and Spider son, Light Angst, Parent Tony Stark, mentions of past death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28961124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tonystarkisaslut/pseuds/Tonystarkisaslut
Summary: Peter is sad that no one can come for career day at school. Tony received a text from May letting him know how upset Peter was when she said she had work. He decides to surprise his pseudo son.
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark, Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 30
Kudos: 393





	Career Day

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: mild angst, mentions of past character death.

Peter looks around the room nervously, grateful for once in his life his last name starts with a P, and therefore his humiliation will be at the end of the day.

Career day has always been a huge event at Peter’s school. It’s saved for Juniors only, takes place at the start of the year, and the following day is all about career aptitude tests and helping students find paths in life they may have never thought about before.

It’s something Peter had been looking forward to since he got his scholarship acceptance letter. May always worked the night shift then, so he knew she would be able to show up.

Except she got a promotion a month ago, and now she works the day shift. So she can’t make it.

Peter doesn’t have anyone else. No grandparents to save the day. His parents are dead, as is his uncle. He doesn’t have any other family, not even a cousin who could show up.

Flash is going to make fun of him for it for _months_ after today, he just knows it.

Career day is pretty simple. You go to your homeroom teacher’s classroom, with your parent or guardian you brought in. There’s 20 students in your class, and each guardian gets 20 minutes to talk about their job, how they got their job, the training it required, and then answer any questions students may have.

Peter had always thought that he would get made fun of because his aunt wasn’t a CEO or a world famous chef or something else that could pay for the ridiculously high tuition of this school. But now he’s going to get made fun of because he doesn’t even have anyone to show off.

“Alright class!” His homeroom teacher, Mr. Sanders, called. “We’re on a kind of tight schedule today, so let’s get going! First up on the list is Sally Avril! Bring your parent up, and introduce them to the class!”

After listening to Sally’s dad talk about what it takes to be a world renowned chef, Abraham’s mom talk about how to be the best landlord of all time, and Betty’s dad talk about being an editor in a famous Newspaper; Peter is ready to cry. All of these extremely busy, extremely rich people making the time to talk to their kid’s stupid high school class.

No one here would understand that May missing a shift at _her_ job would mean no water this month. These people probably won’t even miss a single dime of their pay check. They’ve probably never even heard of being paid based on how much you show up.

~

Tony hums as he picks up the phone, putting down his wrench and wiping his hands off on a dirty rag. “Ms. Parker! To what to I owe the pleasure?” Tony asks.

May gives a heavy sigh into the phone, and Tony’s back straightens up. “I have a favor to ask of you, Tony.”

Tony turns his attention to the holo-screen, not letting himself get distracted. “What is it?”

“Peter has career day today,” May says softly. “And I can’t make it. This is—in his high school, this is a huge deal. He’s been looking forward to this since he got accepted.”

Tony furrows his brows. “Do you want me to talk to your boss? Oh—are you finally going to let me pay your bills?” Tony asks, not trying to mask his excitement. May Parker is a force to be reckoned with, and scary as any villain Tony has had to fight. Accepting money for no reason other than she happens to be on speaking terms with a billionaire is not something she would ever do. Unfortunately.

May laughs fondly, and Tony can practically see her shaking her head. “No, no, nothing like that. I was hoping maybe _you_ would go to his school, show off a bit. It would mean the world to him, Tony. It really would.”

Tony hesitates. “I mean, May, I don’t know about this one. Surprising him-“

“Please, Tony,” May interrupts, and the fact that she even said ‘please’ has Tony standing on edge. “Please, he’s been looking forward to this for three years.”

Tony sighs and nods, standing from his chair and already heading for the penthouse. He’s going to look _good_ if he’s going at all. “Fine. When’s his time slot?”

“2:20. Oh Tony, you’re a life saver!”

~

At lunch, Peter sits next to Ned and MJ, as always. He pushes his food around his plate, not hungry in the slightest.

Ned clears his throat. “It won’t be _that_ bad. I’m sure everyone will be more happy to have 20 minutes of free time than anything!” Ned says, trying to cheer him up.

Peter hums noncommittally. “Your mom was so nice,” he says softly. “It’s so cool that your mom is a CFO. And all she had to do was get her PHD in economics and finance.”

Ned snorts, because he knows Peter wasn’t being serious when he said ‘all she had to do’. “Yeah, well, you know how it is. Immigrants have to work twice as hard to make it half as far. That’s why mom always says.”

Peter smiles sadly at that. Unfortunately, he does know that. Mr. Delmar is an example of that. “And your dad was nice, MJ.”

MJ only snorts. “Yeah, right. He’s a dick and you can say it.” She puts down her book.

Peter raises an eyebrow. “He seemed okay to me, I didn’t mean to-“

“No, he’s an asshole. No one who _isn’t_ an asshole gets to his position. I’d have much rather brought my mom, but apparently ‘political activist’ isn’t the type of job this school wants kids to think about.”

“Your mom has been arrested before, MJ,” Ned laughs. “Wrongfully sure, but that’s still on her record. I’m pretty sure _that’s_ why she isn’t allowed in.”

MJ pouts. “She risks her god damn life to make the world a better place for me and this is the tanks she gets,” MJ grumbles.

Peter shifts uncomfortably. “My parents died in a plane crash. They were on their way to fight Red Skull. I never knew that part until I was made an Avenger, though,” Peter mumbles.

The table goes quiet, and Peter laughs and leans back in his seat. “I guess being a hero runs in the family, huh?” He tries to joke. His friends laugh nervously, obviously at a loss for what to say. Luckily, the bell rings, and they have to go back to class.

~

After listening to Cindy’s father talk about starting his own company, Charlie’s dad victimize himself for being born into money, and Seymour’s mom talk about being the head of a research team working for the federal government, it was finally Peter’s turn.

Peter walks to the front of the class when his name is called, and he tries his best to not look like he’s dying inside.

“Alright Mr. Parker. Who did you bring today?” His teacher asks.

Peter swallows thickly, and opens his mouth to talk when Flash cuts him off.

“He didn’t bring anyone, because no one cares about him!” Flash laughs, leaning back in his seat. “He has no parents.”

Peter feels his face heat red, and he wants to say something mean back, but Flash’s father is sitting right next to him. So.

The teacher looks to Peter sadly. “Oh, I’m sorry Mr. Parker. I thought you wrote down your aunt was coming.”

Peter blushes and his voice is shaky, but he manages to find his words. “Um, yeah. But uh—she couldn’t... she couldn’t make it,” Peter stutters out. “She had a shift.”

The teacher furrows his brows in concern. “She couldn’t miss one shift?”

Peter tries not to cry, because even his _teacher_ doesn’t get it. “Um, actually—“

The door bursts open, and Tony Stark himself walks through the door. Gasps and instant whispers and muttering flow across the room.

“Sorry I’m late!” Tony says, walking up to Peter. “I thought it would be clear I’m not here to shoot up the place, but you guys are pretty strict about protocol. Had to sit through a whole process of getting this stupid sticker.” He points to the sticker that says ‘guest’ on it, like all the other parents have.

Tony puts a hand on a stunned Peter’s shoulder, leaning down to softly kiss the boy’s curls. “Hey, Pete,” he whispers.

Peter stares at him, awestruck. “Mr. Stark?!” He whispers back.

The teacher seems to get his composure back the fastest. “Mr. Stark, what a pleasure! I wasn’t aware you were related to anyone here.”

Tony laughs and shakes his head. “No, I’m not blood related to anyone. But this is Peter, I’m his part-time guardian and mentor.” Not legally, but whatever. “And I heard it was career day! I would have been here sooner, but you know. Work and all that.” He winks at Mr. Sanders.

Peter finally recovers, clearing his throat and looking around the room. He smirks as he sees Flash’s now pale face, and he feels a little better. Years of being bullied, and it’s all worth it for this one moment.

“Well, then, Mr. Parker... go ahead.” Mr. Sanders finally gets out.

Peter beams and takes a deep breath. He’s never been happier than in this moment. “This is Tony Stark, known to many of you as Iron Man, or maybe owner of Stark Industries. But to me, he’s... he’s like my dad,” he says, looking over at Tony fondly. He feels something in his chest when Tony looks at him like that, like he’s proud and happy all at once. “It started off as an internship, working directly under him. But the more time we spent together, the closer we got, until I spent half my time at Tony’s house and half my time at my own. So, he agreed to come in and speak for career day for me.”

Tony nods and clears his throat. “I don’t know who else has gone, so I don’t really know how this works, but I think I got the gist from that very strict receptionist...” laughs from the parents and the teacher.

“So, I want to start off by saying that being born into my fortune was half my work already done for me. Having access to all the best education, all the best resources for exploring my ability and potential. Knowing that there are people who are just as smart as I am, but don’t have the funds to be able to do great things, is the main reason the Stark scholarship exists.”

Peter stares at Tony the entire time he talks. He talks about getting started, getting educated. Then he talks about creating things, improving those things, never saying ‘this is good enough’ but always saying ‘this could be better.’

He talks about how difficult it is to be CEO, how time consuming and stressful. Especially for a company as big as SI.

Tony goes in the back to sit with Peter once it’s over, and Peter feels like he’s on cloud nine. And the fact that Flash’s dad being a CEO isn’t as impressive anymore doesn’t even make the top five reasons why today ended up as good as it did.

The number one spot belongs to being able to say outloud that Tony Stark is like his dad.

**Author's Note:**

> Was this cute 🥺


End file.
